3. Reasons for the adoption of the corn regulations.
It is not difficult to see reasons for the success of such an organisation. Corn fluctuated violently in price because of the narrowness of the area from which the supplies came. Even with our own worldwide supply a corner in wheat has been attempted and for a time maintained. When little corn was imported into England, and even counties were largely self-supporting, farmers might easily raise the price by keeping back their corn from market[465].
But the great price was not always the worst of the trouble. The justices of Devonshire tell us that corn could not be had for money, and the statement is confirmed by Fitz-Geffrie in his Curse of Corne-horders, "O miserable condition! the poore man is put to a double labour, first to get a little money for Corne and then to get a little corne for money & this last is the hardest labour; he might haue earned almost halfe a bushell while hee runnes about begging to buy halfe a pecke[466]."
We must remember the narrowness of the market; the excessive fluctuations in price, and the difficulty of finding a seller willing to sell a small quantity of grain, before we can criticise fairly the organisation which was established during these years of high-priced corn.
In any case the corn orders of the Government seem to have helped to maintain the public peace. In 1527, in 1551, in 1587, in 1597, and in 1623 the rise in the price of corn immediately occasioned disorder[467], and even in 1630 attacks were made on the carts carrying corn, and there were other signs of disturbance[468]. But in this last season of scarcity there was no serious outburst. The orders of the Government probably relieved the distress and certainly helped to convince the people that their rulers were trying to help them.
4. Bearing of the scarcity measures on the history of poor relief.
a. The training of the justices.
The organisation for supplying the poor with corn in 1631 is both indirectly and directly connected with the history of poor relief. We have already seen that the orders for supplying corn seem to have suggested the orders for the ordinary relief of the poor, and that both sets of orders were worked by similar methods. The season of 1630-1 is the first in which the administrators seem to have properly fulfilled their duties. Then the commands of the Government seem to have been vigilantly enforced. This was not always easily accomplished, rebellious inhabitants were coerced, negligent justices were punished[469]. But on the whole the justices seem to have worked with zeal, and the success obtained by them during this exceptional crisis must have made it easier for them to cope with the relief of the poor in more ordinary times.